Dear Friends & Family,
Greetings once again from South America! We hope you all had
a wonderful July! It was a huge blessing being able to see many of you in person,
albeit a very short visit! Here are seven specific blessings from this past
month:
1. Getting to be at Gus’ sister Lori’s wedding! We had thought
we wouldn’t be able to make it because of not having the finances, but God
provided the way through some dear family friends purchasing all of our tickets! We are so grateful to have
been a part of that celebration and are so grateful to all those who housed and
fed our large family over that five-week trip! (And to a supporting church in California that allowed us to borrow a vehicle for the whole time there and drive across four states!)
(with the newlyweds, Lori & Daniel!)
2. Gus traveling back for his Grandma’s funeral. As soon as we
wrote the update about Grandma Maria’s passing and explaining that we wouldn’t
be able to go to her service, the same church that lent us the car insisted on
purchasing Gus a plane ticket to go back to Chile for the funeral. In the midst
of the sadness, that generosity was a special comfort, allowing Gus to be
there with his biological aunts and cousins for a couple of very significant days
for the family...
(grateful for these sweet memories with Grandma Maria from this past February)
3. Seeing extended family and good friends! It had been two years
since we were last in the U.S., which means that family and friends there hadn’t
even met Diego face-to-face yet or seen Jeremy, Liz and Cristina’s growth over
these couple of years. It was fantastic to catch up in person and enjoy a
little bit of time together!
(a fun outing to a children's museum with Uncle Erik & Aunt Beth!)
4. Making new friends! It is always fun to meet new people with a
passion to see God’s Kingdom grow and get to know them a bit better, and there
was a lot of that happening on this trip, even though each visit was sadly too
short and time seemed to fly by! We look
forward to seeing how God deepens those new friendships over time and uses each
of us to sharpen and encourage each other to continue pressing on in His ways.
(visiting some new friends on their farm: Diego loved the turkeys!)
5. Escape to Summer!!! OK, for those of you annoyed at this point
by the heat, just put yourself in our shoes: winter in Lautaro is loooong, so
escaping the cold for a month of swimming pools, hot-tubs, shorts, t-shirts and
flipflops was a welcome change for all of us (well, except for Gus who
definitely prefers winter. 😉)!
(lots of excellent park days!)
6. Baptisms in Lautaro: On
the last weekend in July (while we were still in the U.S.), there was a
baptismal service at the church in Lautaro that had been planned from back in February,
and six people were baptized!! Remember how we started this year with strategy
meetings with the leadership team, defining the vision and goals of the church?
God is bringing Kingdom fruit out of all of that work! He is so good and His Family
keeps growing!! We look forward to the next few months of ministry, which will
culminate in another baptismal service in December, Lord willing! So, stay
tuned! 😊
7. ALL of our past Credit Debt is GONE!!! It seems unbelievable to finally be able to
type that! Honestly, we have seen God’s constant provision for our family on a
month-by-month basis, we’ve seen His leading in ministry, we’ve seen the
amazing things He is doing around the world… But after almost 4 years of this
huge debt hanging over our heads, it feels unreal that it is gone! And yet, it's
true!! There have been several people and churches who have given
significant one-time gifts over the past couple of years and others who have
upped their regular monthly support to help us get through and make ends meet…
and then, this past month someone insisted on covering the remaining debt
amount, just like that!! We have no words, except “Thank you” to all who have
given generously, “Thank you” to those who continue to support us financially and through prayer on a monthly
basis (our being here depends on your partnership!), and “Thank You” to our Father who provides so completely through His
people…
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we
ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory
in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
(Ephesians 3:20-21)
Because of His Love,
Gustavo & Karissa,
Jeremy, Elizabeth, Cristina &
Diego
